President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden somberly stood beneath overcast skies at Dover Air Force Base on Friday, joining mourning families to witness the return of three American service members who lost their lives in a drone attack in Jordan over the past weekend.
This ceremony, a deeply solemn duty of a commander-in-chief, involves a ritual to honor fallen troops.
President Biden, with his gloved right hand placed over his heart, observed as three transfer cases, draped with American flags, were respectfully carried from a C-5 Galaxy military transport aircraft to a waiting van over a short distance.
The dignified transfer, lasting 15 minutes, was marked by the commands given as each case was carried, and the only spoken words were a brief prayer from an Air Force chaplain, seeking “grace and mercy” from God.
The initial transfer case contained the remains of Sgt. William Jerome Rivers from Carrollton, Georgia.
This process was then replicated for Sgt. Breonna Moffett of Savannah and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders of Waycross.
Following the completion of the transfer by the seven-member, white-gloved carry team, all of whom were members of the US Army, a final salute was rendered as the remains were conveyed to the mortuary facility at Dover.
Biden Meets Grieving Families Before Transfer
Preceding the dignified transfer, President and Mrs. Biden held a private meeting with the families at the Center for Families of the Fallen on the base.
This solemn ceremony is carried out for US service members who have lost their lives in action. Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock from Georgia, Representative Buddy Carter, representing the home district of Moffett and Sanders, and Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons from Delaware were also in attendance.
The soldiers were repatriated to American soil just before the US military responded to the lethal drone attack, attributed to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
This group comprises Iran-backed militias, including Kataib Hezbollah.
The United States initiated a series of retaliatory airstrikes on Friday, targeting numerous sites in Iraq and Syria utilized by Iran-backed militias.
In a statement issued on Friday evening, President Biden cautioned that the U.S. response would persist “at times and places of our choosing.”
The president had previously extended his condolences to them earlier in the week.